Hands Holding Dust
by StupidStorywriter6
Summary: Ruby has an imaginary friend. He's a bit goopy and staticy and might look the tiniest bit like a Grimm, but that's ok! He's not one, and is really, really, good at killing Grimm and is super nice and teaches her cool things! Oh, and about that whole "imaginary" part… No longer a one-shot! Complete. Idea up for adoption/collaboration. Chapter 3 only lists who's taken the idea.
1. Hands Holding Dust

Hands Holding Dust

As a child, Ruby had an imaginary friend. At least, that was what most people would call someone who only they could hear, and talk to, and interact with. Maybe hers would count as even less than that, because he was always staticy and goopy, and his words so distorted they hurt her ears and made her cringe until she got used to it.

She stopped talking about him to others pretty early on. It had been easy for people to mistake him for a Grimm, with his black body and stark-white face. And drawing him hadn't helped since she couldn't make him look right without making him look creepy, but that was just her art, honest! She made everything about him scribbly and shaky because she didn't know how to do goopy and staticy. His hands looked like claws because hands were hard, but she didn't want to give him mitten-hands like other kids would do when drawing their friends and family, because he used his hands to talk when his voice failed him and she felt it'd be mean to take that away. But no one listened to her and took away her drawings and whispered behind her back words liked "weird" and "disturbed" so she stopped.

But she still had a couple tucked away to show Gaster when he got really sad for no reason, like when she first spelled his name in hand signs. And they were extra special, too! They weren't of how he looked currently, but of how he'd "once been". It'd taken a while, but with careful instructions she'd managed to make a crude drawing of him solid and tall and professional-looking in a flowing coat and cape. And as bad as she thought they were, he loved them, making rapid signs of gratitude and reassurance before remembering she wasn't very good at reading signs yet and slowed down and patiently narrated.

Gaster was strange for an imaginary friend- she'd always known that. He liked things she hated, and taught her things she didn't know, and tutored her, and would even disagree with her! He wouldn't even change his mind when she insisted that he was wrong, which didn't make sense. He was her imaginary friend, so he should do what she wanted like all the other kid's did! But no, he insisted she wake up on time, and eat her vegetable, and study every day, and do her chores, and practice her hand signs. Even when she stomped her foot and cried loud enough to drag someone to her room in a panic, he was unmovable but gentle and looked at her with a strange happy-sadness like he was remembering something.

Ruby didn't think it was strange when things she lost would turn up, neatly stacked on her desk. Gaster was like another parent, so it only made sense he'd find things she lost like the other adults always did. Even the drawings the other adults took away ended up on her desk eventually, and even if she knew he must have stolen them back that was fine because they were taken from her first. So it wasn't weird he knew things she'd never heard about, because even if he was part of her imagination like everyone said, he was still an adult, so of course he'd know everything.

When the Beowolf that pinned her to the ground and tried to rip out her throat was torn to pieces with a click of Gaster's fingers, she realized that maybe her imaginary friend wasn't as imaginary as she thought. Even if only she could see him, even if she was the only one who knew he existed, she realized that Gaster was very, very, real when half the Beowolf pack disintegrated the very next moment. Qrow showed up then, and Gaster vanished, his last look towards her one of fear and hurt.

Qrow and Yang didn't believe her when she babbled about Gaster killing the Grimm, even though they nodded and assured her when she cried about him leaving her. She saw it in the way they looked at her, because Gaster taught her how to know when people were lying. She heard them muttering about possible Semblances, and knew they'd never understand that Gaster was Gaster, not a superpower.

She spelled Gaster's name in hands like it was a magic spell that would bring him back.

A week later when he reappeared he refused to meet her eyes and fidgeted. He said and signed some excuse about studying and expirments, nervousness making him alter between the two methods at random. Ruby couldn't understand it – only something about Dust and his magic and the Grimm - and she knew it was all a lie because he'd been afraid she'd be afraid of him. But that was fine, and later when she slipped her hand into Gaster's own to feel the phantom touch leech away at her warmth, she smiled. And all was forgiven, and he did his best to hug her and promised to never leave her again.

And years later, when she squirmed nervously on the airship to Beacon, he did his best to hold her hand, and assured her she'd do fine. Nothing bad would happen that she couldn't overcome on her own, because she was amazing. And if anything happened that really was too much, he'd be there to help her. Talk to her, tutor her, teach her, critic her, protect her, fight for her…

Anything she needed he'd find or do for her.

Absol t ly a ny th i n g.

 **I haven't seen much of RWBY and I'm not a huge fan of it. But I liked this idea enough to at least write a small snippet for it. No there will not be anything more for this. However, if someone wants to take this idea for whatever character catches their eye, go nuts. I just don't care enough about the RWBY cannon to write a whole story on it.**

 **EDIT: Fixed some minor errors and the very end. Had to get pretty creative since FFnet didn't like me slowly increasing the spaces between the letters. So just imagine that instead.**


	2. Story of Soundless Cries and Silver Eyes

**The changed title I gave to chapter 1 haunted me so much I decided to make this, to give my weak explanation as to how Gaster even ended up in the RWBY universe. This assumes the Void connects literally everything, even other universes. Apparently I have nothing to add to after chapter 1, but before that is fair game for my mind. Not that anyone here minds.**

 **Also, FFnet was really picky with the line pagebreak, so if there's any issue with those either not existing or a dozen of them spawning, please tell me.**

A Story of Soundless Cries and Silver Eyes

Gaster's entire world had moved on, without him.

Maybe it was selfish, but he preferred when his world had been stuck in a loop. Even if everyone had been reduced to a mere plaything, even if happiness was snatched away by a RESET or the same tragedies occurring again and again because something as flimsy as a whim. Even if the world would never move forward, at least, at least…!

At least the world wasn't leaving him behind then.

It was bitterly selfish of him, and the sickening happiness of the world resetting again and again ate and ate away at his mind, but warmed his heart until those feelings were burned into his fragmented his soul. Because it was more _time_. More time to find the pieces of himself for no other reason than to shave of boredom, more time to pretend everyone was just so comfortable with his presence at restaurants that they didn't mind if he sat down beside them, more time to make others notice the tiny, insignificant things he did like snatching pen; as if he were naughty child who did it just so he would pay him the tiniest bit of attention, even if was negative, oh God, the precious _time_ he'd _wasted_ with lofty ideals and principles he'd already broken _-_

But now the True Child had awoken and freed the monsters, and the world actually moved forward after generations of stagnation. No matter how long dragged by, the world did not loop back on itself, and the more and more Gaster realized it never would again. But, without the RESETS, with no one left in the only area he could exist even somewhat, that hideous happiness he'd felt at everyone's suffering could no longer be ignored. It wormed and burrowed its way into his skull and ate away at his bones until he felt so hollow and brittle he just wished he'd turn to dust already! He couldn't leave -there wasn't enough magic anywhere else in the world to support his half-existence- and he couldn't fall into black, even as he choked and drowned on the stuff daily. He should have been happy, ecstatic that everyone he cared for was able to move on now and live a real life, and for a time he was. Except he was hollow and empty with a decaying and broken soul that couldn't ever be fixed by himself. Except there was no one, no one, _no one_ -!

A part of him wished the world would RESET again.

And just like that, he saw it. It was so simple, he'd never have seen it, never have known he could have done it, until the option was there. He had no DETERMINATION, nothing, but even shut down there was enough magic in the Core that, with the element of surprise, with the help of a castoff demon that whispered in his ear, he could…

Gaster was so horrified with himself that he fled. He fled so deep into the Void that he lost sight of his own world, his own universe. He didn't care, because something wicked was his only company and eventually he'd break. Break because he was weak and with a soul that was so broken it refused to shatter and the jagged edges tore him to shreds every moment he was alive. So he dove deeper, blindly, into the fabric between space and time and something else beyond him, that he thought he'd never see light again. And he'd deserve that, because of the sins he'd committed in life, because of his twisted heart and vile happiness, because of his own weakness that nearly destroyed the pure happiness of others who deserved it so much more than him. So Gaster accepted his punishment of eternal darkness and isolation, and moved deeper into the Void, hoping he'd eventually be crushed by it.

The light was so unexpected, he was struck dumb when he stood in the street of a busy city.

Despite his conviction to self-punishment, Gaster was so relieved to see others, to finally exist again, that he broke down crying at the miracle. The suddenly feeling of being solid, of being _real_ was so perfectly beautiful, he crumpled to the ground and held himself, reveling in the sheer amount of sensation he could suddenly feel. He was alive! He was existing! He was…still having a hard time keeping his form together.

Gaster looked around, and realized he was in the middle of a human city. Hundreds of humans and not a single monster, and no one gave the crying skeleton a second glance. He felt strangely solid here, so real that for a second he'd been tricked that he'd actually escaped, and yet he realized it was just an illusion. A false hope from the high magic that emitted from very earth around him, and even from a few of the humans that bustled and roamed around him, ignorant. Yet no amount of ambient magic could truly return him to existing. Maybe he'd be able to move slightly heavy objects, maybe he'd be able to use his powers a tiny bit more freely, but he still wasn't real.

Nothing had changed. Even if the setting was foreign, even if the very rules of the world had seemed to change that somehow some humans could use magic, Gaster would never exist, and yet always continue to do so. His life was a joke. A prank karma, punishing him for the sins he'd done that no amount of mitigation and denial could ever erase. He would have gladly accepted the fear from the humans, even death by their hands, if he had simply been acknowledged for a single second. Just one second to know someone would remember he'd existed, even if it was as a strange demon…

Yet nothing would ever change for him.

Gaster buried his head in his empty hands, drew into his empty self, and despaired.

* * *

Gaster had grown perfect at ignoring the world around him when needed. It was noisy, busy, and strangely different from his own, but infinity better than the Void. Even if it was obnoxious at times, there was plenty to observe and learn. For instance, there seemed to be only humans and a strange offshoot subsect known as Faunus in the world. Faunus seemed to be stronger than an average human, but humans themselves were far more numerous. The only mention of 'Monsters' he could related to children's stories and creatures known as Grimm that hunted humans, seeking their soul. An interesting species that he needed to see up-close one day. Maybe Grimm could sense his soul, or was there so little of it left after his own experiments and the Core that even those beasts would find in unappetizing? Probably; he certainly wouldn't take it if he had the choice.

"Hey, hey mister!"

Dust was strange as well. At first he'd been horrified and thought that humans had figured to weaponize monster remains, but really it was only a source of crystalized magic. Interesting, and doubly so seeing as it tended to react…badly to him if handled it carelessly. His soul magic seemed to be like fire to oil to the Dust, and exploded spectacularly if any of his magic leaked into it. His magic clearly forced the Dust to react without preamble, likely due to the similarities between magic and Aura. He wouldn't be surprised if Aura was just what human magic was called. Both relied on the soul in some way, and both were very deadly.

"Mister!"

A small part of him wondered if he could use Dust to convince someone he existed, yet he knew it would never be enough. Even if they knew he was real they'd probably think he was a spirit and try and exorcise him, or something else equally ignorant. And for those of reason and ration who would actually try and figure out what he was? Gaster knew himself well, and knew how he'd treat an invisible, intangible, nearly non-existent entity that defied all of science. He'd be a simple curiosity for someone to poke and prod, and the irony was so bitter he wanted to laugh until he vomited. Surely that would be a better taste in his mouth.

"Miiiiister!"

He really wished whoever the child near him was trying to talk to would pay attention already. Ignoring a child was a futile battle lost from the start, so they'd better just give it up now. Honestly, it was-

"Fine! Get hit by a car then, stupid!"

Standing in the road was a rather dangerous and idiotic thing to do, so whoever that child was talking to should really listen to her. Sure, he was a bit of a hypocrite, standing in the road himself, but the cars just phased through him if he wasn't concentrating on being simi-solid. And he wasn't _trying_ to get hit, so it wasn't like he was doing something so idiotic as that or-

Slowly, Gaster turned around, and stared right into big silvery eyes that were very clearly _looking right at him_.

Ruby, only a handful of years old, cocked her head to side, confused, "Your face is weird."

Gaster, as deadened inside as he was, still, impossibly, found himself hoping.


	3. Story Adopters

**Below is a list of who's said they'll take on this story and have publish at least 1 chapter for it.** **As of 9/15/2016 this is a list of the current offshoot stories:**

 **ravenclawoutcast13: 1 chapter, ~4300 words.**

 **NatsuStar: 2 chapters. ~1,400 words**

 **This idea is always up for adoption and may be taken up by anyone at anytime, so long as they PM me beforehand. With each new taker I will update this list as much as possible, but outside of that this list will remain untouched to prevent spamming the category. However, to prevent people from trying to gain quick popularity by publishing a very lazy chapter and getting their name on the above list, I will add an additional restriction for any new stories that spawn from this one. Any offshoot story from this one** ** _must_** **have at least two chapters before I'll add them to the list. Although I don't think anyone else will take up this idea, I figured I'd lay down that rule just in case someone thinks themselves clever.**


End file.
